Forming new business relationshipsOur team of due diligence investigators helps clients ensure that their potential new business partners are suitable. The team, the largest in Europe, uses hundreds of data archives and a network of contracted associates around the world to locate and retrieve data. We analyse the information and produce an objective assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of possible new partners.
Clients include corporations forming a joint venture or appointing a new agent, government departments overseeing the privatisation of state-owned assets and companies acquiring another business or the assets of another business. The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the OECD Convention on Bribery criminalise the payment of bribes, unwittingly or otherwise, to foreign officials – so companies subject to this legislation are also frequent users of this service as they strive to ensure that prospective business intermediaries and partners are suitable, ethical and have no hidden connections to government officials.
Examples include:
- Companies who are forming a consortium with a local partner in order to bid for a government licence and who need to be certain that the partner will neither harm the prospects of winning the licence, nor present legal difficulties
- Real estate investment funds backing projects run by property developers needing to assure themselves of the credentials and integrity of the developers
- Private equity providers backing a management team to make a new investment needing to assure themselves of the competence, integrity and team dynamics of the investee company
- Corporate or banking clients appointing local agents to win business in a new market needing to understand the credentials, affiliations and reputation of their potential representatives
